DVDs won't mount

P

pottidmeat

Registered
Here's the lowdown...
I'm on a 1.8 GHz PowerPC G5 with a Super-drive (though I'd rather call it something else right now!). I'm also on OS 10.3.9. The drive is a Pioneer DVD-RW DVR-106D. The specs say it handles both +R and -R. Blah, blah.

Okay, now here's the problem (which seems to be fairly common based on other forums I've perused) ... lately all of the DVDs I've burned (both +R and -R) won't mount once they've been removed from the cradle. They burn fine and even mount on other drives, but not the Pioneer. CDs both burn and mount without a hitch. I've read up on firmware updates and drive cleaners, etc but most people (if not all) claim that these fixes didn't work for them. It doesn't seem to be a hardware issue necessarily... Could it have to do with updating to 10.3.9? I'm vexed and bleary eyed. Hope someone smarter than me can lend a brother some love.
 
'I've read up on firmware updates and drive cleaners, etc but most people (if not all) claim that these fixes didn't work for them.' - yet, no web page links were provided.

'It doesn't seem to be a hardware issue necessarily...' - yes, it may be a hardware issue - such as dust.

'Could it have to do with updating to 10.3.9?' - no.

'I'm vexed ... Hope someone ... can lend a brother some ...' - first, try to use a can of compressed air, directing the air stream into the drives center.
If that produces a temporary or failed result, then consider removing the Superdrive, disassembling it - exposing the read / write heads, blowing compressed (or human generated) air across the read / write heads - and elsewhere, reassembling only the laser protective shield, (temporarily) reinstalling the Superdrive, burn a new disc and attempt to read it.
If successful, remove and fully re-assemble the Superdrive. If not, try cleaning the heads and elsewhere again ... (temporarily) reassembling, burning, reading, fully assembling, etc. Otherwise, some other factors exist.

I have performed the above on CD and DVD burners (D106 included) with much success.
 
Hi Thread and everyone who has the same problem,

I called Apple, they refered me to the Apple help page where I didn't find a thing about the subject. Here is why... It's not a technical problem from the DVD drive it's simply because it's very dusty!!! I got myself a CO2 air spray can and a DVD cleaner and it made magic! First, I opened up my G5 for the first time since 2 years and discovered that my room was pretty dirty. I cleaned up the inside of my mac spraying the air can everywhere using the entire can and then I played the DVD cleaner at least 3 times and each time the DVD reader got better and better. I can now play DVD that used not to work in my G5. So that's it, not a technical problem just have to clean the damn thing. Hope that this will help cause I had the same problem... I wasn't able to read burned DVDs but it was ok for commercial movies and audio CDs. Now, my Mac is as new. Good Luck!!!
 
I can't believe that this is the solution, but I tried it on my G5 desktop and it worked great (so far). Opened the unit, removed the DVD drive, unscrewed the top and bottom to expose the read/write heads and sprayed the canned air on them for a bit. Reassembled it all and now my DVDs mount fine. I was skeptical because I was able to mount older data CDs and music CDs, so I was sure this was something specific to the data DVD format. I am happily wrong. Dusting out the case and the DVD drive makes all formats work great. Many thanks for the tips.
 
Just remember this cheese grader G5's are dust magnets! Plus any computer after six months should be inspected for dust, on a regular basis. This goes for Macs as well as PCs. Always remember this and pass it on to loved ones and friends.
 
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